Notes on playing the banjo uke (and the regular ukulele), as well as some of my favorite songs and videos, but mostly, you'll find information here on my particular obsession - the many models of banjo ukulele offered by Stromberg-Voisinet in the 1920's to 1931.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

I'm Going Back To My Dreams

In my last entry more than a year ago, I posted a video of an original Christmas tune I'd written the year before. Seems like my output has slowed to an annual crawl, but in fact, I've never been busier, thanks to our band, the Buck and a Quarter Quartet. Playing music of the 20s and 30s, we're now doing about four gigs a month, and since I'm playing clarinet, saxophone and tenor banjo, there hasn't been a lot of time for me to play ukulele, let alone post about it.

But, I have been writing over the last year and have about a dozen songs. This is one of them, "I'm Going Back to My Dreams". Writing it took me back to dealing with that sinking feeling dealt by a less than true (now ex-) girlfriend and the curious elation you get (at least I did) when trying to keep your spirits up by retreating into fantasy.

I also did a short video of the chorus, no verse - as I wasn't yet happy with the verse at the moment I recorded this. With two teenage daughters and a dog living in my two-bedroom apartment, my videos always get recorded wherever I can find a quite spot. It isn't always a great looking spot, though!

Just so you know, I recorded the SoundCloud file not on a uke, but instead, playing a 1928 Gibson TG-0 tenor guitar. Tenor guitars were the music industry's answer to the question, "what should tenor banjoists play during the ballads that were becoming increasingly popular by the late 20's?"

The Gibson looks a lot like a big uke. When I play this little guitar at gigs, I occasionally get asked if its a bass ukulele. In the You Tube video, I'm playing Prince Wong's Martin style 2 standard uke.

Any road, I hope that you enjoy this song, and I'll record a few more of the originals I'm finishing up soon. Until then, keep on...